Our Head Office

Everyday is a school day

We know an awful lot about acoustics, but always want to learn more. Professional development isn’t a chore when you have this attitude.

Developments in the instrumentation, software and techniques we use to do our work are only half the story, we need to keep pace with the continuously evolving environment in which we’re doing it.

That includes changes in guidance and legislation, new noise control and construction techniques and materials, and new noise sources like fracking and drones. We are very actively involved in our academic (IOA) and trade (ANC) associations, and generally a bit more into it than is probably healthy!

Our Team

Alan Saunders

Alan is the Chairman of the Board and founder of CSA. He has been involved in acoustics for over 40 years, gaining considerable experience in a wide range of major industrial, architectural, environmental and transportation projects.

Alan has appeared as an expert witness on many occasions both in Court and at Planning Inquiries. Initially involved in the more industrial fields and diesel engine and aircraft noise control (both civil and military), he has developed a characteristic hands-on approach to acoustic consultancy which has stood us in good stead for addressing the 'real world' issues of modern consulting.

The company is an active member of the Association of Noise Consultants, of which Alan was Chairman for the year 2000/2001.

Ed Clarke

Ed is the Managing Director at CSA, having worked in acoustic consultancy and engineering noise control since 1989. He joined Alan shortly after he founded CSA in 1994, picking up some of the workload generated by an ever-expanding client base. His experience covers the main consultancy fields of architectural, planning, building, transportation and environmental acoustics and vibration.

Expert witness representation has featured strongly in recent years, as has the preparation of Environmental Impact Assessments. Ed was chairman of the ANC ‘06 to ‘08 and helped to set up its registration committee for accrediting sound insulation testers. He is a Senior Robust Details Inspector and PCT Scheme Examiner too. Recent technical work includes the extension of CSA's work in 'extreme acoustics' involving very high power noise sources (eg F1 racing cars, jet engines) and ultra-precise design goals.

Matt Sugden

Matt is the Technical Director at CSA, with experience of the acoustic industry in the UK and Australia since 1991. He has been involved in a wide variety of projects, including industrial noise assessment and control, building and architectural acoustics and environmental noise from infrastructure developments.

In recent years Matt has advised universities, many gym studios, and overseen the training of the junior consultants within the company. His expert witness representation is extensive and includes single join expert. Whilst in Australia, Matt was involved in the acoustic design of several Sydney 2000 Olympics sporting and broadcast venues and has since worked on many other major leisure / entertainment projects.

Daniel Saunders

Dan is our Finance Director with experience in acoustics since 2002, the Institute of Acoustics Diploma in Acoustics and Noise Control and a degree in Economics. He has gained extensive knowledge across the UK and in Europe in a wide range of disciplines including environmental, building, architectural, planning and industrial acoustics projects.

Commercial, residential and hotel accommodation have featured strongly in recent years. Dan has taken the technical and project management lead in helping CSA’s clients to deliver suitable environments in a wide range of settings with building acoustics and sound insulation of particular interest. Expert witness representation including single joint expert has also featured strongly of late.

He is the current Vice Chair of the Association of Noise Consultants, an ANC PCT Scheme Examiner and a Robust Details Senior Inspector. He is also the Chair of the IOA Southern Branch and Vice Chair of the ANC Membership Committee.

Ian MacArthur

Ian joined CSA in 2005 from a background in industrial and aviation acoustics and has a degree in Acoustical Engineering from the ISVR, Southampton University. He is now an Associate at CSA.

A member of the Institute of Acoustics and a registered ANC sound insulation tester, Ian has extensive experience of computational acoustics within the company and has worked on a number of large scale industrial projects, airport studies and is often found working on interesting residential/hotel or office development schemes.

Travelling to far ranging places to undertake surveys and assessments has been a highlight of his time within the company, ranging from Qatar to the rural North West coast of Ireland.

Ben Dymock

Ben is an experienced architectural and environmental noise and vibration senior consultant working in acoustics firstly as a sound and studio designer and then in consultancy, academia, research and lecturing during the past 13 years.

A member of the Institute of Acoustics, he has led teams in noise and vibration design, impact assessment, prediction and compliance testing in a variety of settings including residential and commercial developments, studios, rehearsal spaces and industrial work places, and is part of the Clarke Saunders team providing research for noise exposure assessments.

He completed his PhD in 'Urban Wind Turbine Feasibility’ in 2015, which covered environmental and architectural noise, vibration and energy production with CFD, wind flow, simulation and environmental modelling.

Mike McLoughlin

Mike is a Senior Consultant at CSA with 13 years’ experience of acoustics and vibration in the UK and Australia. He joined CSA in 2014 and has been involved in a broad range of architectural, environmental, and transportation projects throughout the U.K, Australia, and Asia.

Mike has specific experience of assessment of transportation noise, with detailed knowledge of the assessment of aviation noise impacts. He completed his MSc in Environmental Acoustics in 2013, achieving a distinction, with a dissertation investigating the subjective response to aircraft noise and its quantification.

With an established academic and practical background in acoustics, Mike is able to apply his experience to individual and unique project requirements.

Alex Arnold

Alex is a Consultant at CSA, joining in 2010 and completing the Institute of Acoustics diploma in his first year. During his time he has developed experience in demolition and construction monitoring, managing several sites in and around London.

He is also a registered ANC sound insulation tester. His interest in Motorsport has led him to be involved in a number of assessments for noise management plans and developments at some of the UKs most renowned race tracks.

Ben Alexander

Ben joined CSA in February 2012 as an assistant consultant and became a Consultant in 2016. He has been working in environmental noise and vibration surveying, planning assessments, building acoustics and building services noise.

With an educational background in audio technology and an interest in music production, room acoustics of auditoria, recording and critical listening spaces, these remain an area of on-going interest for him.

He holds the Institute of Acoustics Diploma in Acoustics and Noise Control.

Alex Brooker

Alex joined CSA from a strong background in underwater noise research and consultancy for various industry sectors including renewable energy, oil and gas, and marine construction and shipping. He was previously a senior research assistant with the ISVR in Southampton, and a Senior Consultant in commercial underwater acoustics.

Alex has worked extensively on environmental impacts on large scale onshore and offshore projects affecting marine life. Now he has moved to onshore work and undertakes construction pre completion testing, noise and environmental impact assessments and is part of the Clarke Saunders team providing research for noise exposure assessments.

Eleni Tavelidou

Eleni is an Assistant Consultant at CSA and is currently studying for her MSc in Applied Acoustics at Southampton Solent University. Her educational background and experience includes Recording Studios, Room Acoustics, Music Performance and Teaching as well as Computer Aided Simulation and Acoustic Materials.

As member of the Clarke Saunders team, she is involved in pre-completion testing, noise impact assessments as well as environmental noise surveys. Future goals include further studies in Acoustical engineering.

Dunstan Langrish

Before joining CSA in 2016, Dunstan gained sound grounding in all aspects of acoustic consulting work. He also undertook several concurrent freelance roles in the music industry such as a sound engineer and tour manager in the UK and Europe.

But it is his speciality in environmental acoustics and experience on site surveys, data analysis, reporting for planning applications, environmental impact assessments and project management, particularly in wind farm acoustics which we appreciate.

Laura Mazzeo

Laura joined CSA in 2017 as an Assistant Consultant, and is a member of the CSA team involved in pre-completion testing, noise impact assessments as well as environmental noise surveys.
She has a deep knowledge in acoustics and fire design, and furthermore, Laura has previous experience in the HVAC industry, where she was involved in product development and noise testing. Laura has a sound grounding in all aspects of structural design and building systems; integrated building design and stability analysis of concrete and steel structures; plus, thin walled and composite structures.

Nicholas Hughes

Nicholas is an Assistant Consultant and currently studying for the IOA Diploma in Acoustics and Noise Control and is involved in Environmental and Planning Requirements and Vibration Assessment and Management. He undertakes construction pre-completion testing and noise impact assessments and is part of the Clarke Saunders team providing research for noise exposure assessments.

Nicholas previously worked in intelligence evaluation and research, interpretation and inference of data and is trained in Problem Solving and Crime Analysis by the Institute of Crime Science, UCL London.

Chloe Hutchins

Chloe is the Office Manager at CSA, joining the company in January 2013. During her time here she has developed experience in administrative processes, HR, office management and PA duties. She also assists consultants with the booking and organisation of sound testing on new build housing developments as part of our work with Robust Details.

Chloe manages insurances, IT, health and safety and recruitment for the business and assists with accounts and marketing.

Will Fairman

Will joined CSA in 2016 as a Technical Assistant following his graduation.

He undertakes construction pre completion testing and noise impact assessments and, is part of the Clarke Saunders team providing research for noise exposure assessments. Will has a strong background in audio engineering and music technology, with a particular focus on software development for audio.

Kirstie Hallis

Kirstie is the PA/Office Administrator at CSA, joining the company in May 2016 following her previous role as a legal administrator. She is responsible for the NIHL claims and scheduling, and managing the works for the 6 experts.

She also assists consultants with the booking and organisation of sound testing on new build housing developments as part of Clarke Saunders’ work with Robust Details, and together with the Office Manager and Accounts Department provides invaluable support for the consultants.

Tanya Burke

We welcomed Tanya as our Financial Controller late March of 2014. She handles all accounting transactions, is responsible for the preparation of financial accounts and works closely alongside the company accountants.

Tanya also runs our credit control department to ensure safety and future security of the business.

Andrew Nesbitt

Andrew has extensive workplace experience in Environmental noise surveying, modelling, vibration measurements and laboratory testing. Further placement work with the ISVR in Southampton involved the design of active noise control systems for vehicles including assisting in the design of a mid-frequency sound source for automobile testing.
Andrew joined Clarke Saunders Associates in 2017 and is involved in architectural acoustics, planning requirements and vibration assessment and management. Andrew is part of the Clarke Saunders team providing research for noise exposure assessments.

Michael Symmonds

Michael is an Assistant Consultant and has been involved in Clarke Saunders since 2015. In the summer of 2017 he graduated from the ISVR in the University of Southampton with a First-Class Masters Degree in Acoustical Engineering. During his time at the ISVR he gained a strong background in acoustical theory and experimental acoustics.
At Clarke Saunders he has been involved primarily in planning assessments, building acoustics and noise exposure assessments. Areas of on-going interest include room and computational acoustics.